Monday, July 28, 2014

I decided I need to work on some more of my Dear Jane blocks during my last week (hopefully) in the camper. I strive for - but don't reach - perfection! Hee Hee!

B-11

A-13

Yes, an easy double 9-patch in the middle of some very difficult ones!

C-12

I really like this next one and it is probably one of the most difficult ones I have done yet. I didn't get it pressed though.

A-10

This first step wasn't too bad - a small reverse appliqué oval.

Sewing the small triangle into the corners had it's challenges.

Uh oh! I put this one in backwards. Time to get the seam ripper out. Good thing it's handy!

These 2 sections now have to be sewn together.

Another Uh oh! I sewed 2 of the wrong sides together. Seam ripper time again!

At least I'm making some progress with Dear Jane. By the way, if you are working on the DJ quilt, you might want to order baggies of nice scraps from Homestead Hearth. I ordered 2 bags and got lots of nice fabrics including the ones I used for C-12 and A-10.

Happy stitching and I hope you are staying cool (or warm if you are down under)!

Saturday, July 26, 2014

This first picture isn't very good, but it says "Enjoy Historic Downtown Dallas - Established 1874." I guess I can't get away from Dallas! Most people don't even know about Dallas, OR, but that was my first stop on the Shop Hop and it was at Grandma's Attic Quilt Shop.

Dallas OR

Grandma's Attic Quilt Shop

Picture of the give-away block and the table runner they made with it.

I couldn't help taking a bunch of pictures in Grandma's Attic. It was my kind of shop! Not that I didn't like the other shops, but this one was just perfect - plus it was my first stop and after this I kind of forgot to take many pictures.

Polk County Courthouse in Dallas, OR

Next, I drove into Salem and stopped at the Quilted Forest. This shop was very busy and had lots of interesting and beautiful quilts and fabrics. But, they were not my type.

Third stop was Quilt'n Stitch in Slayton, OR, east of Salem. A nice little shop in a small town.

When I returned home I saw that one of my commenters recommended going to the quilt shop in Independence, which I saw was near Dallas, but since the shop wasn't in the shop "hop" I wasn't aware of it until it was too late. Maybe some other time I can check it out.

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

I finished quilting it yesterday and got all the threads trimmed off today. I'm naming it "Baskets of Blue" which was suggested to me by Rebecca in AK. Thanks, Rebecca! I took a bunch of pictures, but only two of them turned out very good. I'm not very good at "arranging" photos!

I'm so happy to have this quilt finished (always feel this way when finishing a quilt). It took 1 1/2 years from start to finish. I plan to hang it in the living room of our new house.

I'm glad that I did a whole appliquéd quilt and now I feel that I don't need to avoid all appliqué. I think someday I might want to do something like a Jan Patek quilt (I already have one of her wall hanging as a UFO).

Thanks for all the encouragement as I went through this process.

Last week I attended a quilters' guild meeting and the speaker was Rachel Greco, from Grandma's Attic Quilt Shop in Dallas, OR. She presented a lecture concerning Isaac Singer and the Singer Sewing Machine Company. Very interesting! Rachel loves history and she makes it come alive. I plan to visit the quilt shop soon to participate in a shop hop of 13 quilt shops around Oregon. What better way to get to know the area?

Monday, July 21, 2014

I'm keeping on sewing in the camper. Actually, while living in a camper, you don't have a lot of cleaning to do, no yard work, etc. so there is more time to sew! I have made a few little quilts that I plan to use on the back of our dining room chairs (6 of them). I made this top using the left-over black fabric from my basket quilt and various shirtings. I used only 2 squares from each shirting and a different one for the inner border. I really love the black and wanted to use it in something else. The squares finish at 1".

Here's another one that I showed you before and now it is quilted, but not bound.

I quilted a one sided feather in the border. I love the hooked feathers and used them for this. I used a dark grey thread that I am using for my basket quilt.

I'm quilting free motion hooked feathers for the basket quilt border without marking any lines. First I go up on the right side, then sew a line back down to the bottom and then do the feathers going up on the left side. I'm doing each side like that and I'm on the second side now. I'm too lazy I guess to mark anything and since the scallops make it easy to make the feather spine curve, it works for me.

The dark grey thread doesn't really show up very well

Quilting from the back

I like to throw in a curly que feather every once in a while, or a fern looking one. Sorry the pictures are kind of dark - It was early when I took them.

Soon I will be deciding on the name for my basket quilt. I have received several good suggestions, so I'll pick one of them and let you know when I do.

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

I drove past our "new home" yesterday and took a picture of the sign of the housing development. I took it with my cell phone while sitting in the truck across the street from the sign, so the picture isn't very clear. Kind of a nice name for the area.

My work area in our 5th wheel camper isn't too big and I took a picture of my messy sewing table. Stuff seems to get piled on the end of the table. You can see my water bottle, some fabric, a pencil holder with some quilting tools in it, a hair band, bobbin and a vintage Tupperware sugar bowl. I have 2 of the sugar bowls; one for our house and one for the camper. But there isn't any sugar in this one. As I was quilting my basket quilt and taking the pins out, I couldn't find a jar to put the pins in. I spotted the empty sugar bowl and decided to use it instead. The pins just fit through the opening. And if it falls on the floor, they won't all spill out!

Here's a close-up of the sugar bowl. Maybe you can see a few pins in it.

I'm getting the binding sewn on my basket quilt! Then I need to quilt the border, put on a label and I'm done!!!!!

BTW, thanks for all the suggestions for a name for my basket quilt! I think I'll use one of the names suggested, but haven't decided which one yet.

Monday, July 14, 2014

I'm almost finished with the quilting on my basket quilt. I need to think up a name for the quilt - any suggestions?

I did echo quilting in the medallion, quilted around each basket and did stippling in between the baskets and in the space that the handles surround. I haven't decided yet how I will quilt the border, but I decided to do the binding next and I need to make it first. It has to be bias binding because the edge will be scalloped.

Some close-up pictures….

Barb, at Fun with Barb, asked if anyone wanted to join in on a 9-patch swap and she had lots of response. So, I am making 100 9-patches, 2 for everyone in the reproduction swap (which is closed, BTW). I have over half of them made so far - they go pretty fast, especially with the new method.

She had a tutorial here on a new way to make 9-patches and I'm using that method to make them. I really like it! You can check it out and try it for yourself.

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

I'm still here living in our 5th wheel at my DS's house and we are progressing in the buying of the house. Last week was the inspection and it passed that with flying colors! This week an appraisal will be ordered and we go in to sign more papers with the mortgage company. We are getting writers' cramp from signing so many papers! But, we're getting excited and definitely looking forward to moving into a house and getting out of the camper!

In the mean time, I am keeping busy in-between the house business sewing and quilting (plus cooking). I made another little quilt top and I'm almost finished quilting my basket quilt inner section around all the little baskets. Also, I prepped a couple more Dear Jane blocks, but haven't had time to work on them any more. I'm hoping to get the quilt finished before we move in so I can hang it up in our new living room! I discovered during the inspection that there is plenty of wall space to hang quilts in the living room and bedrooms!!!

This is the 4-patch doll quilt that I made. For some reason, I couldn't get the computer to straighten it, so it looks crooked.

We aren't enjoying the hot weather that we're having here in Oregon, but are thankful that we have air conditioning in our 5th wheel. We're also happy that the house we're buying has A/C - a lot of the houses we looked at didn't have it.

We were expecting DS/DIL to return from Europe tomorrow, but found out they will arrive today instead! Yea!!

Moda Block Heads

About Me

I've been quilting more than 20 years, sewing most of my life. I've been married 54 years, have 3 married sons, 3 wonderful DILs and 5 grandchildren. I am now retired from the U. S. Court! DH and I enjoy camping in our 5th wheel. I have enough ideas to keep me busy for many years of quilting!